Brotherly Comfort
by booksandmusic19
Summary: "Get some sleep." A missing scene from the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe movie, where Peter and Edmund talk about Edmund's betrayal. Brotherfic.


_"Get some sleep." A missing scene from the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe movie, where Peter and Edmund talk about Edmund's betrayal. Brotherfic. _

Author's Note: My second Narnia fanfic! This was sort of inspired by the LWW movie commentary, when Will Mosely says that there was a version of the scene when Edmund returns, where Peter reacts more harshly towards his brother. This is my take on that kind of scene, as well as a following scene between the two brothers. Enjoy! (I also had difficulty coming up with a title, so I'm absolutely open to suggestion.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Chronicles of Narnia… C.S. Lewis and Walden Media do.

**Brotherly Comfort**

"Hullo," he said, appearing ill at ease. Peter saw that he glanced quickly upward to see his reaction. In all honesty, he did not know what his face showed – or what his reaction _should_ be. Lucy of course was Lucy, running to Edmund and hugging him, with Susan following soon.

But Peter found himself held back – by his conscience or some other force, he did not know. He supposed it was his anger at Edmund that caused him to stay rooted to his spot while his sisters embraced his brother. "Are you all right?" The low question was from Susan.

His brother shrugged. "I'm a little tired." Was he complaining? Was the old Edmund, that is the boy he had been when they entered Narnia, showing through?

"Get some sleep." He said it not really caring that he was probably being harsher than he should be. Edmund walked away slowly, towards the tent. As he turned back to look at them, Peter could see a wistfulness in his brother's eyes, as if he were wishing he could join them. Then his brother turned around and disappeared through the flap in the tent.

_Good_, a nasty side of Peter thought, the side that didn't want to forgive Edmund. _He should feel_ _bad. Make him sweat. Who knows how much he told the White Witch?_ But a second part of him whispered that Edmund had left _because_ of Peter's harsh treatment. And, after all, Lucy seemed to have forgiven Edmund, and she'd been the one he had been most cruel to. _But she's the youngest. She forgives everyone. _

He looked over at the tent where his brother was. What was Edmund thinking now? Was he asleep, catching up on the lack of sleep that even Peter had seen was evident on his face? As angry as Peter was with his younger brother, there was a part of him that retained his instincts as an older brother. These instincts caused him to worry about his brother's condition.

Lucy had walked up to him as he was deep in his thoughts. Now that he turned to look at her, he saw a worried expression on her face. "Are you still angry with him?" It was a quiet question, and not accusatory by all accounts. But there was a disappointment there, as if Lucy had hoped Edmund's return would set right his wrongs with Peter.

He looked down at his youngest sister and found he did not have an answer. Yes, he was angry with Ed for – if the story was true – betraying them to the Witch. No, he did not entirely blame Edmund for leaving them. Peter knew his own actions had contributed to that.

He smiled down at Lucy. "I'm going to talk to him now." Trying to be reassuring, he smiled at her as he walked toward the tent. Pushing aside the heavy flap, Peter waited for his eyes to adjust to the semi-darkness.

Edmund was curled up in a corner, his knees pulled to his chest and his head in his arms. At first it appeared he was sleeping, but then Peter heard his brother take a ragged breath. Was Edmund crying? Peter couldn't remember the last time he'd seen his brother cry.

Suddenly Peter felt bad. What had happened to Edmund to change him so much? This Edmund was a different person from the angry boy Peter had entered Narnia with. "Edmund?" he asked cautiously, stepping over to where his brother sat. Edmund looked up and quickly brushed the tears away from his red eyes. Obviously he was trying to hide the fact that he'd been crying from him.

Peter wasn't fooled.

Edmund took a steadying breath and then said, "Peter. Why – why are you here?" He heard a quiver in Edmund's voice, and he suddenly felt bad that he had ever intended on yelling at his brother. "I came to – " Peter didn't know what to say. "Oh, Edmund, are you all right?" Edmund shrugged. "Better than I was last night."

Peter crouched down to his brother's level and tentatively reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. He remembered that the last time he had tried to touch Edmund he'd been rebuffed and yelled at.

Edmund didn't move. He was looking stoically away from Peter, who wished he could see his brother's face. "Edmund – if something's wrong – " His brother turned quickly to look at him, knocking his hand off.

"I betrayed you, Peter. I told her where you were going."

"I've been perfectly horrid to all of you and you haven't done anything. I don't deserve any of this." He gestured at the colorful tent, the cloth waving ever so slightly in the breeze.

He was crying now, and Peter wanted desperately a way to make his brother feel better. "I feel bad too," he insisted, being truthful. Trying to find the words to say it, he struggled on. "I was too hard on you. You were right. – I'm not Dad."

It had hurt at the time, but Peter had realized that perhaps he had been too overbearing on his siblings. Edmund was shaking his head. "No," he insisted. "I left all on my own. You never told me to leave."

Peter had never seen his brother so vulnerable, so emotional. He wasn't quite sure how to comfort him, so he made do by wrapping an arm around his shoulders and pulling his brother into a protective embrace.

Edmund turned his face into his brother's elbow; Peter felt wetness soak through his shirtsleeve. "You should have yelled at me, before. You would have been justified. I was stupid. She promised me sweets and a kingdom of my own, and I believed her. And then she locked me up and – " Here he took a deep, shuddering breath. "– and she hit me."

The White Witch had hit him? Peter was surprised his brother hadn't recoiled from any and all physical contact. "What?" he whispered, unable to put his thoughts into words. Edmund shook his head. "It's nothing," he insisted. "You probably have things to do."

Peter shook his head; he was staying here with his brother. He realized that Edmund probably had hurts that needed tending to. "I can get some bandages," he offered, but Edmund shook his head. "Can you just stay?" he asked.

Peter stayed.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

"Peter, there's an army out there, and it's ready to follow you," Edmund said. Peter shook his head. Who was he for them to follow? A young schoolboy from Finchley, of whose existence he had only learned a week ago. "I can't," he said.

"Aslan believed you could." Aslan. He supposed that he himself had believed he could, when he had thought that Aslan would be fighting with him, helping him. But now that that was not the case, he wasn't sure he could even fight in a battle, let alone lead an entire army to war. To their deaths.

He looked first at Oreius, whose solemn face was unreadable, and then at Edmund, who looked at him and said, "And so do I."

That meant more to him than anything, and he looked at his brother to see him smile tentatively at him. Oreius galloped off, no doubt to gather the troops, and Peter was left with Edmund.

He turned around, meaning to go back to the tent and prepare, when Edmund said quietly, "I meant what I said, you know."

Peter turned around, and saw his brother looking at him solemnly. "I know. Thank you. For your confidence." Knowing that his younger brother – who had always treated Peter as if he were overshadowing his life – looked up and believed in him meant a lot.

Edmund didn't seem as though he'd finished with whatever he was going to say. "Lucy said you'll be High King." It wasn't a complaint, or a jealous remark. Just a statement. Peter nodded, partially because he didn't know what to say to someone who acknowledged that he would be a king, and partially because even if he did, he didn't know if he could.

Peter saw Edmund swallow, and he knew that whatever he was about to hear was important. "Then I want to do this," his brother said, so low that it could have been to himself.

"I promise that I will _never_ betray you again, Peter. You or our sisters. And I promise that I will make this – " Edmund couldn't continue; Peter saw tears in his brother's eyes. Taking a deep breath and trying to appear both as a king and as a brother, he said, "I accept your promise. And I have one in return. I promise never to hurt you like I did in the past."

Edmund was still looking at the ground, and Peter heard him sniffle. Though he did not know what possessed him to take such action, he reached a hand out and kissed his brother on the forehead. Edmund looked up and suddenly Peter was being hugged very tightly. He found his own cheeks were moist.

"Peter, I'm scared," his brother said. His voice was very small. "I am too," Peter confessed, although he wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do. Did a king confess his fears to others? He wasn't sure, but he knew that fears shared among brothers often diminished.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Three hours later, when Peter was at the front lines, he looked back and saw Edmund, standing ready with the archers. Though they were many metres apart, he knew there was no one he would rather have beside him in battle.

And during the coronation at Cair Paravel, when Edmund gave him the formal oath of fealty he was due as High King, both knew that the true oath – and the true loyalty – had been sworn some two weeks ago, a tearful reunion between two brothers who were destined for so much more.


End file.
